


Simple, Not Pure

by simplesetgo



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: F/F, F/M, Threesome - F/F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-16
Updated: 2011-02-16
Packaged: 2017-10-18 01:07:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/183295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplesetgo/pseuds/simplesetgo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>PWP: Cara's mutual need-driven arrangement with Richard serves as a stepping stone for another.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Simple, Not Pure

1.

“Alright,” Richard said, swallowing as he pushed up on his elbows. “I’m ready.”

Cara, sprawled out lazily between his legs, pulled him from her mouth, from her skilled tongue, and regarded him in her hand. “If you say so,” she said, and Richard chose to ignore the remark. She shifted her way up beside him and reclined on her side, clearly waiting for her Lord Rahl to make the next move. Richard raised himself up a little more, craning his neck from side to side to peek over the knee-high stalks of swaying grass around them. “No one is going to be _watching_ us,” Cara sighed.

Richard looked to her, tightening his jaw as he hesitantly let his eyes fall over her body. She was all golden skin and toned muscle, and he could see the patience in her green eyes running thin. He took a deep breath, like he used to do before jumping in the lake back home in Hartland, then rolled over on top of her.

****

He was, of course, being far too careful, slow, and gentle. Cara was, of course, not going to criticize her Lord Rahl’s performance—unless he asked. So far he hadn’t. He wouldn’t look at her either, apparently preferring to gaze down endlessly at the grass and her shoulder as he moved against her. Cara knew why, and he likely knew that she knew. “This is not about her,” she said at length, placing a hand on his warm chest, and he paused, still for a moment, apparently caught. “This is about _you_. Richard. Think of whatever or whoever you like, but you will not go to the Keeper for looking at me. If you do…I’ll bring you back.”

The small carving around his neck, the only thing either of them were wearing, dragged across her skin to rest between her breasts as he peered down at her through shaggy hair. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “I’m just…”

Cara offered him a smirk, trailed fingertips up and down his sides. “As you were,” she teased.

Richard apparently took the smirk as a challenge, for soon Cara found herself gripping those same sides.

****

She was beautiful in her own right. Richard knew that. It was obvious she wasn’t expecting a kiss, and if he was honest with himself he wasn’t expecting to give her one. But when he slowed from his suddenly furious pace to press his lips to hers, she kissed him back. It helped a bit, making things seem more natural, more legitimate. As if they were lovers doing this simply because they wanted to.

It helped, but there still seemed to be…too much missing. He drove himself harder.

****

Cara wondered when exactly he would give in. He’d worked himself up to a heavy sheen of sweat, grunting and thrusting, kissing at her neck and palming her breasts, but he apparently needed something more from her than arching hips, fingers clutching at his muscled back, and murmured encouragement in his ear. She finally put words to her frustration. “What is it?”

He paused again, catching his breath and looking like he might collapse over her. “Could you…try not to look so _bored?_ ”

Cara cocked an eyebrow up at him. “If my Lord Rahl wishes me to pant and moan and thrash beneath him, he will have to earn it.”

Richard smiled, looked like he might laugh. Then he bit everything back, because apparently he'd remembered that he was not supposed to be having fun. He was not supposed to enjoy this—not really.

“I have a better idea,” she offered, because she didn’t like watching Richard do that to himself. She was perfectly capable of overpowering, by sheer skill, whatever was holding him back. “Roll over.”

****

Now it was his back on the grass as she mounted him, rather expertly, and it was with sudden pride that he realized she was staring at his abdominals, even drawing her hand across them absently as she began to rock. But he made the mistake of flexing them under her palm, and she glanced at him and rolled her eyes. “My Lord Rahl’s muscles are very impressive,” she drawled. “But I’ve seen better.”

He promptly deflated.

She just smirked and began to _really_ ride him. Hands spread on his chest, tossing her blonde hair back, hips slapping down against his own with each bodily thrust. He groaned and reached out, gripping her thighs and just watching her _body_ as she worked. Richard’s sweat-cooled skin burst back into flame, his groin tightened, and when she turned to grinding and rolling her hips it wasn't a minute before he finished. Cara apparently didn't deem it necessary to hide her look of satisfaction as she pushed his hair away from his brow.

****

“Start at the bottom and work up,” Cara said, giving him her back. She could tell guilt was setting in—his brown eyes, ever expressive, were furrowed and he hadn’t said a word. After he’d worked halfway up her spine, Cara sighed. “Richard…you know Kahlan wants this for you,” she said, feeling his fingers freeze immediately in their clumsy work on her laces.

“You talked to her?” he asked in disbelief. “About this?”

“Of course I _asked_ her,” she said matter-of-factly. “She’s far too terrifying not to. There are many things she wants far more, but she does want this for you. And I want this for you. I will not have my Lord Rahl adjusting his trousers every time his lady of choice accidentally flutters her lashes at him. It’s unseemly.”

“Oh,” Richard said, obvious unease in his tone at having been noticed.

“So then,” she said, once they are both fully dressed. “Is the Seeker ready to seek things? To keep his eyes on the Compass and off of Kahlan Amnell’s breasts?”

This time, when Richard grinned at her, sheepish though it was, he didn’t fight it.

* * *

  
  
  
2.

“A hunting lesson?”

Cara’s brow arched at the suspicion in his tone. “You’re the one who insisted on them.”

“You’re the one who _asked_ for one,” Richard pointed out, skirting the pair of them around a tangle of thorn-ridden undergrowth in their path. “You’ve never done that before. Not that I’m not pleased with your want to learn.”

“It’s been a long time,” Cara said, stopping him in his tracks with a heavy tap of her bow across his shoulder. “That wasn’t supposed to be a single occasion, Richard. We agreed that when you had need, you would make use of me. ”

Her tone was nearly accusatory. Richard frowned as he took her meaning. “I haven’t had need.”

“You have,” Cara corrected. “Or has Richard Rahl been replaced by a spirit with no blood in his veins?” A step forward, a hand slipped down over his shirt, and her mouth lifted to his ear all served to evoke an audible swallow from him. “When I said you could have me whenever you wanted,” she continued softly, “I meant it. You can wake me in the middle of the night, you can steal me away before dinner, you can ask for my help with something while we’re on the road. It doesn’t have to take long.”

She felt the front of his trousers and smirked. Richard was a man, but a young man, and the promise of such an illicit tryst was as arousing as any touch she could give him. “Why, Lord Rahl,” she teased, and dropped to her knees.

Richard blinked down at her as she reached for his belt. “Wait,” he spluttered suddenly. “Not here. This is a trail.”

Cara pursed her lips, looked from side to side. “I don’t see a trail,” she said flatly, and had the buckle undone before he could speak again. Freed, the Sword of Truth clattered to the ground, pulling his belt free with it. Richard immediately dropped to retrieve them and looked at her amusedly.

“There’s a game run here, Cara. Likely hunted daily by the settlement not far from here, running right under us.”

“No there isn’t,” she insisted.

Richard pointed dutifully at the ground, then extended his sword in a sweeping path outward. “Look at the group of tracks here, and the way—”

“Fine. There’s a trail. Lead the way.” She narrowed her eyes. “Away from it.”

****

Cara leaned forward, resting her forearm on the rough bark of the tree, and laid her brow on her wrist. Her leathers were pooled around her ankles, her stance wide. Richard, his own trousers down to his knees, was taking her just as slowly as he first had last time, and Cara wanted to groan. “One would think you’ve never been with a woman before,” she joked.

She heard him take in breath to speak behind her, but instead he chose to respond with a tighter grip on her hips and harder thrusts.

****

The warm skin under his palms was tanned, not pale. He stared between her shoulderblades, rocking into her with enough force to maintain the illusion of attempting to prove his prowess. He’d imagined that, once Cara finally called him out like she did, it would be easier the second time—not harder. It likely had something to do with Kahlan’s quiet reassurances after he and Cara returned the first time. Hearing her whisper that it was alright if he enjoyed it, that he didn’t have to pretend it was her.

“Cara,” he said suddenly, and then realized he didn’t know what to tell her, what to ask for.

****

She felt the sudden hesitance in his body, felt his hands gently stroke up her sides and his movements against her turn mellow and muted. Cara glanced over her shoulder and reached behind her, placing her hand on his chest and pushing him away. He stepped back, looking at once guilty and confused as to why.

“Save the lovemaking for her,” Cara said sternly. She dropped to her hands and knees on the forest floor—yet another style of sex she would never allow anyone but her Lord Rahl—and tossed her hair over her shoulder, looking back and up at him with her brow arched in challenge. “As of right now, the world is going to the Keeper unless you fuck me as hard as you can. Let’s go, Seeker.”

He gave a weak laugh but lowered himself to his knees behind her. Cara placed a hand on her backside, giving herself a couple inviting taps on the cheek. “And I don’t care,” she said, “ _how_ many distressed women appear in front of us and beg for your help, you do not stop. Do you understand?”

Richard chuckled and it sounded genuine. Cara looked forward, satisfied, and when he entered her, smooth but fast and hard, her lips parted at the sheer force behind it. Warmth crept over Cara’s body as it shook.

****

His muscles were burning with exertion, but it was worth it. This was something different, something new, and he was getting lost in the delirious absence of thought as he let his body take over. There was a sound from Cara that sounded suspiciously like a moan, but he attributed it to her simply coaxing him on. Not that it didn’t work—he felt a fresh flush prickle sharply on his chest and neck. He was close.

The sounds and heat of their sex were like a haze to his senses as he saw Cara shift to support herself on one arm, the other darting between her legs. His jaw worked before he found words. “Are you…”

“Unless you _stop_ ,” Cara gritted out. “Keeper’s…winning, Richard. Harder.”

He took her words to heart, pounding at her recklessly, and was rewarded with what was a definite and drawn-out moan. Cara was soon pushing back against his every thrust, but whatever she was getting from him and giving herself wasn’t enough. She raised up to her knees suddenly, straightening herself to press her back to Richard’s front, then urged him backwards with her body. “On your back, Seeker,” she panted.

Richard obeyed as best he could, falling to his haunches then pushing his legs out until he was reclined on the leaves. Cara never let him out of her, staying coupled with him as they settled. Despite the familiarity of the situation, Richard was given an entirely different experience than last time; that of Cara taking her pleasure instead of giving him his. He only hoped he could last long enough.

Her back was undulating as she moved with no restraint of power, the muscles there tightening and loosening over and over as she took him at her own swift pace. There was only one hand gripping his thigh, and he knew what her other was doing. Richard felt his own climax approaching with no hope of stopping it, and thankfully it wasn’t long at all before Cara’s head tilted back, her blonde hair falling over her shoulders. The hand on his leg tightened, her fingers digging into his skin, and her sex clenched around him as she came. He impulsively raised himself up, wrapping his arms around her front, and then he followed, cheek pressed to Cara’s skin as he released.

“Aren’t you glad I made Zedd spell me?” Cara breathed out, head turned to the side. “We don’t have to be careful.”

Richard groaned, squeezing her tightly in retribution. “Can you…not remind me that he knows? Actually, can we not talk about Zedd while we’re doing this? _Ever?_ ”

Cara patted his forearms around her breasts in mock consolation before she disentangled herself.

****

“That last bit was suspiciously like lovemaking,” Richard said, raising his brow as he offered her bow. Cara took it, hanging it across her chest as they began to walk.

“No it wasn’t.”

“It was,” he insisted. “We were…”

“You put your arms around _me_ , Richard. And I was climaxing,” she added dismissively. “I can’t be held responsible.” He looked at her proudly, and she decided against cutting him down a notch. For now. “It’s a thin line,” she admitted. “But when the day comes, Kahlan should be different for you.”

“You think we’ll be able to? One day?”

He seemed genuinely curious. Cara’s brow furrowed. “I have faith in my Lord Rahl,” she said honestly, and couldn’t explain anything beyond that if she tried.

* * *

  
  
  
3.

“His horse didn’t really throw a shoe this afternoon, did it?” Kahlan asked.

Cara turned onto her side in the bed to face her, raising herself up on one arm to carefully gauge her expression. The flickering bedside lamp threw the Confessor’s soft features into sharp relief as she gazed up at the ceiling. Despite having Kahlan’s blessing, this conversation had been long expected—she and Richard had been coupling every few days for some time now. “No,” she answered, and waited.

The brunette sighed, bit her lip, hesitated. “What did you do with him?” she whispered.

“Kahlan,” she warned. “If you ask, I will answer. Are you asking?”

“It hurts me that I can’t do those things for him. But because I can’t, I feel like I don’t know that part of him as well as…”

“As well as I do,” Cara offered.

Kahlan shook her head. “As well as I _could_. I’m not jealous, Cara, and I’m not upset with you. You’re as close of a friend as I’ve got. I’m upset with myself. My curse.”

Cara tilted her head. “Richard would say it was a gift. So would Zedd.”

“And what would you say?” Kahlan asked softly. She rose up on her side as well, facing Cara, as if she were truly interested in what she thought.

“I would say it has definite disadvantages,” Cara mused. “Personally, I would sooner be dead than chaste.”

Kahlan smiled at that, not looking the least bit surprised.

****

“Wait, were you…dressed?”

Cara nodded in answer. “When we don’t have time to take off my leathers, I just use my mouth.”

Kahlan stared at her, almost afraid to ask her to continue. Luckily Cara didn’t need a request, holding her gaze as she spoke slowly. “I pushed his back against a tree, just off the main road, and knelt between his legs. Then I loosened his belt enough to drop his breeches past his hips. He was already hard, so I opened my mouth…and took him.”

Kahlan was getting far more than she asked for—even now, Cara’s words were sending warmth to all the right places. She found it unnervingly easy to imagine everything Cara was describing as she shifted uncomfortably under the covers, suddenly not sure what to do with the hand resting on her hip. “What then?” she stammered, clearing her throat. “What does he like?”

“He likes it slow at first,” Cara said thoughtfully. “He likes _everything_ slow at first. I’m surprised he doesn’t _stroll_ into battle and get cut down before he can draw his sword.”

“And then?”

“Then he likes it faster. He’ll thrust into my mouth a little, and I’ll use my hand to give him the speed he wants while I work with my lips and tongue.”

“Your lips and tongue,” Kahlan repeated softly, staring openly at those very things as she let her mind wander to dangerous places. She allowed her hand to fall between her legs in turn, feeling the heat and dampness there through her thin shift.

****

She likely thought she was being stealthy, but Cara easily noticed the Confessor’s pale skin darkening as a flush crept over her chest and her cheeks. From there it was easy to spot a subtle but steady movement under the covers, very close to her thighs. Cara nearly forgot what she was saying, quickly darting her eyes back to Kahlan’s face. “Then it’s just a matter of how long it’s been since our last,” she continued, “and whether my jaw becomes tired.”

“If it does?” Kahlan asked, her voice noticeably strained.

“I stroke him with my hand.” She smirked. “Roughly, relentlessly. But this afternoon, I never took him from my lips. He finished quickly.”

“In your mouth,” Kahlan guessed, breathing heavily now.

Cara had not planned on this. She had figured Kahlan genuinely wanted to know how to please the man she loved, but seeing this was an unexpected pleasure all her own. She clenched her fist to keep from reaching out, touching Kahlan’s parted lips, drawing fingertips down her throat and further.

****

Kahlan suddenly realized just how obvious she was being as Cara stared at her, just how desperate she was to be doing this while sharing a bed with Cara. Her stomach flipped, but her hand simply wouldn’t still in its work.

“You can tell when he’s close,” the blonde said suddenly, and her clear disregard for Kahlan’s actions gave her the boldness she needed. She slipped two fingers into her sex and pressed hard with her palm, and Cara took a deep breath, as if she knew. “Richard will grab you by the side of your head. Sometimes with both hands, like he did today, and he’ll try to pull you closer while he grunts and groans.”

“And then?” Kahlan demanded, her fingers sinking deep and fast as her heart hammered in her chest. Cara was telling her exactly what she wanted to hear, describing exactly what she’d always been afraid to imagine.

“And then, he’ll finish,” Cara said, her voice low, staring _right_ at her. Kahlan understood, but her body needed a little more—she needed to hear just a little bit more.

“Oh?” she choked out, and luckily Cara took it for the request it was.

“He might stroke your hair,” she offered, “or maybe the side of your face, while he does. And he might chant your name. Kahlan, Kahlan…Kahlan.”

A small but intensely satisfying orgasm rocked her, and her legs shot out rigid and straight before she collapsed on her back, her hand firmly held in the heat between her thighs.

“I hate you,” Cara said suddenly, and sighed afterward.

“What?” Kahlan yelped.

“I felt that from here. I was making sure I wasn’t confessed.”

Kahlan pressed her head back into the pillow, closed her eyes, and groaned in sudden embarrassment.

****

“When he…what does it.”

She stopped herself, apparently the hesitant picture of innocence once more, and Cara rolled her eyes in the dark. They’d just doused the lamp, and Kahlan was still trying to catch her breath as she laid beside her. “Feel like?” Cara guessed.

Kahlan offered confirmation by way of a small sigh.

Cara thought for a moment. “You’ll find out eventually.”

“Do you really think so?”

She bit back a comment about the pair’s lack of faith in themselves—barely. “Richard says he’ll find a way,” she said instead. “You don’t trust him?”

“Of course I trust him,” Kahlan said indignantly. “But until then, I won’t know.”

“Until then, you’ll apparently be just as high strung as he was before I started tending to him.”

“I’m perfectly capable of tending to myself,” Kahlan said warily.

“I know. I just watched you. But you don’t have to. Next time you should let me touch you. I’m better at it than you are.”

Kahlan turned silent, nearly long enough for Cara to think her offer spurned. “You would be safer,” she said suddenly.

“It’s simple,” Cara said. “You first told me you can’t trust yourself with Richard because you want him so badly you wouldn’t be able to stop. But you don’t love me, and I don’t love you. It makes things easier to control.”

“Cara, why are you offering yourself to us like this?”

She snorted at such a question. “This is not an act of selflessness, Kahlan. As a Mord-Sith of certain position, I was used to bedding a woman before noon and another before nightfall until I joined Richard.” With that Cara strained her ears, imagining she could hear the Confessor blush.

“Oh,” Kahlan said thoughtfully. “I don’t think I’ll need you that often.”

On impulse, Cara leaned across the space between them, quickly finding Kahlan’s lips and pressing a firm, insistent kiss there. She found the Confessor surprisingly pliant, her mouth giving, and Cara sighed as she pulled away. “Pity,” she murmured.

* * *

  
  
  
4.

“I think my horse…”

Kahlan trailed off as she pulled her mount to a stop. The three of them wheeled their own mounts to face her, and all Cara could see was the Confessor’s cheeks pinked with a sudden nervous blush.

“What about your horse?” Richard asked, clearly concerned. Zedd made a helpful sound of worry as well.

Her throat bobbed as she stared at Cara. “I think it…threw a shoe.”

Cara smirked.

“Oh, well I’ll check,” Richard said, making to dismount. “Should only take a moment.”

Cara cleared her throat, loudly, as she caught his gaze with a glare, and his eyes widened as he caught their meaning. “Or, Cara could check,” he said slowly. “We should let them catch up. Come on, Zedd.”

“We’ll only be a moment,” Cara promised.

****

They walked deeper into the greenwood side by side, step by purposeful step, and Kahlan nearly jumped out of her skin when Cara suddenly pulled her to a stop.

“You’re tense,” Cara accused, head canted. As if she expected Kahlan to be casual about this. Only one thing was keeping her from surging past Cara and escaping back to the safety of the open forest road—arousal the likes of which Kahlan had never felt.

“I’m fine,” Kahlan protested weakly. “Should we. Here?”

Cara’s lips curled before she urged Kahlan back, past an elderberry bush and against the thick oak tree beside it. “There is nowhere but here,” she said softly, setting her body against Kahlan’s and lifting her mouth to her ear. “There are no beds, no soft sheets. Just…me.”

Kahlan promptly looked up into the trees above, knowing the blonde was using the voice she reserved for shameless seduction. She hated that it worked so well on her.

****

Gloves tucked into her belt, Cara slipped two fingers into her own mouth to wet them while her other hand slid down Kahlan’s body, acquainting itself with the layers of clothing there. Kahlan’s eyes darkened suddenly as she stared at her lips, and Cara pulled her fingers free and smirked. “You want to kiss me,” she observed. Kahlan wasted no time darting her head forward in answer. Cara tilted her own to meet her, and their lips met with none of the gentleness she’d been expecting. Mouths open and moving together, Cara tasted Kahlan's tongue, eliciting one soft groan after another until Kahlan jerked her head to the side, taking in a sharp breath. Cara’s hand had found her sex. She discovered that she’d had no need to prepare her fingers with wetness—she found more than enough of Kahlan’s own between her thighs, waiting for her. She immediately wondered just how long it had taken the Confessor to work up the courage to ask for this.

“Good, Kahlan?” she murmured, her lips brushing Kahlan’s ear as she set her fingertips moving in a certain tight pattern.

Kahlan’s mouth fell open, but no words followed.

****

The knowledge that the hand working between her thighs was not her own sent Kahlan’s mind reeling, and she tightened her hold on Cara’s sides just to flex her own fingers. To make sure. Cara pressed harder in turn, with both her hand against her sex and her body against the tree. Kahlan moaned, letting her head fall forward to rest on Cara’s neck and shoulder.

“Yes, good,” Kahlan gasped against the leather there, suddenly remembering her question. Cara’s body tensed suddenly with what might have been a huff of laughter. Then she slipped fingers into her, and Kahlan’s teeth found the collar of her leather armor and bit down. The Mord-Sith was exceedingly good at this—the way she was touching Kahlan, any doubts of her prowess suddenly seemed the epitome of foolishness.

“Better?” Cara purred, and if Kahlan could’ve given voice to just how exquisite her pleasure was, she would have. She settled for an incoherent mumble instead.

****

Kahlan’s hot breath on the skin of her chest sent a shiver through Cara and she worked her fingers faster. The Confessor’s grip on her sides shifted lower, to her hips and her backside, and Cara let her clutch tightly there. Kahlan was nearly panting now and when she took to letting her hips roll wantonly against Cara’s body, Cara brought her free hand to her face, forcing her to look at her. “Are you close?” she asked sharply, and Kahlan’s eyes widened as she nodded quickly. “Close enough?” Cara added, softening her tone.

Kahlan kissed her again in answer, pushing them forward free of the tree behind her. They stood entwined as she drove Kahlan right to the edge, the Confessor digging fingers into her back and pressing herself close. Then she started to tremble and Cara found herself shoved away, falling and landing roughly on her backside. It hurt. She didn’t care.

Kahlan fell to her knees in front of her, then back on her haunches. Cara’s gaze flicked between Kahlan’s wrist, buried between her legs and working furiously there, to her eyes, staring right at Cara and swirling with black. Then Kahlan let her head fall back and her lips part, her release shaking the leaves on the trees around them.

****

“I am concerned,” Cara said, swinging up into her saddle. Kahlan, still basking in the fresh memory of her best orgasm in recent memory, turned in hers to look at her curiously.

“You don’t need to be,” she offered. “I know what this is, and feelings have nothing to do with it.”

Cara looked pleased, but shook her head. “It’s not that.”

“Oh?”

“I fear that every time I see you confess someone in battle,” Cara said, her lips curling slowly upward, “I will think of…that. It could be distracting.”

Kahlan laughed. “I see. So I’m back to tending to myself?”

Something strangely close to panic fled over Cara’s features, but her voice was as nonchalant as ever. “If you’d like. But I think I can manage the risk.”

“Good,” Kahlan said, ensuring Cara saw her smile before she turned her mount to head into the road after the others.

* * *

  
  
  
5.

“That looks like a Rada’Han,” Cara observed, leaning her shoulder against the doorway.

Richard was about to speak, but Kahlan silenced him with a look before stepping away from him and closer to her. “It is,” she replied, awkwardly turning the silver collar over in her hands.

“Perhaps you’ve forgotten,” Cara said, amused. “We’re in the People’s Palace because the war is over and the Keeper is defeated. You two have no need of _that_ because he apparently loves you every bit as much as he has ever claimed. Which he did often. You don’t need its protection.”

“Cara,” Richard piped up. “We thought—”

“I’d wear it for you,” Kahlan interrupted, voice quiet but firm. “He doesn’t need me to, but you do. You would, if you still wanted to…”

Richard stepped to Kahlan’s side, taking her hand. “Just because Kahlan and I can finally be together doesn’t mean we want you in our lives any less.”

Kahlan nodded, extending the Rada’Han to Cara like an invitation or a gift. It was probably supposed to be deeply symbolic, but Cara couldn’t believe her good fortune—she’d expected this particular chapter of her life to be over. “We should see if it fits,” she offered, closing the door behind her.

****

It was a good thing, Kahlan thought, that Richard’s bed—their bed—was as massive as the rest of the People's Palace. There was plenty of room for the three of them to sprawl out, naked as they were, red leather and white dress and royal attire all piled loosely in a chair to the side. It was the first time Kahlan had done anything like this, but there was no room in her thoughts for second guesses. She was laying on her belly, Richard running his hand through her hair while he quickly hardened in her mouth, and Cara was perched somewhere behind her, fingers teasing between her thighs as she stroked her palm up and down Kahlan’s spine. It felt amazing. Kahlan opened her legs a little more, and when Cara responded with a single finger inside her, it took Richard twitching against her tongue for her to realize she’d nearly stopped while waiting for more. Kahlan took him as deep as she could, then pulled him free of her lips and stroked him with her hand. “Sorry,” she said ruefully. “Cara is…”

“I know,” he replied lightly. “Remember?”

“Is what?” Cara wanted to know, giving her another finger and thrusting a little deeper.

“Very good at this,” Kahlan responded, her thighs nearly shuddering with the promise of pleasure she knew was to come. She looked over her shoulder, completely unsurprised to see a half smirk on Cara’s features. “Do you want him first?” she asked. “I’ve had him to myself since the Pillars.”

The Mord-Sith tilted her head. “Well, I won’t say no.”

****

Richard slipped off the edge of the bed, per Cara’s instruction, as the blonde situated herself there on her back, opening her legs and pulling him to her with ankles around his hips. He gripped her thighs and entered her smoothly, but soon froze inside her when Kahlan, perched on the bed beside them both, gasped.

“Is something wrong?” he asked quickly, suddenly terrified that she was having second thoughts. He cared for these two women more than anything in the world, and maybe he’d been a fool to even try—

“Yes,” Kahlan said, her expression strangely close to pouting. “Cara never lets me be on top.”

He loosed a relieved laugh and began his slow thrusts, raising one of her legs over his shoulder. “She has problems…finishing, if she's not on top. But never? Is that true?” He tried to give the blonde a stern look and failed miserably.

Cara arched her brow and reached up to lightly pat the hand holding her thigh. “If you weren’t my Lord Rahl, you’d be right there with her,” she said solemnly. “I am Mord-Sith.”

“But I could order you to let her,” Richard mused, taking her a little harder.

“That would be cheating,” Cara protested, but didn’t appear overly concerned, instead looking to the Confessor in question. “Kahlan, bring me your thighs.”

Kahlan just looked at her, her own brow raised, and Cara huffed. “Please,” she added quickly, indicating the area above her head. Kahlan flashed her a satisfied smile before crawling over on her hands and knees, then lowering her hips over Cara’s face, facing away from them both. Richard swallowed heavily, hips jerking erratically against Cara as he saw her tongue flick out to Kahlan’s sex. Cara reached her hands around to cup Kahlan’s backside and pulled her down, closer, placing her open mouth fully against her, and then all he could see was Cara’s throat bobbing as her tongue worked. The room immediately grew hotter, and he soon gave up trying to identify which of them had just loosed a loud but muffled moan.

Kahlan arched her body, actually pressing down against Cara’s mouth, and raised herself enough to look behind her, pulling her dark hair over one shoulder to reveal her back and the expanse of pale skin there. One glance at Richard and she was smiling. “You should see the look on your face,” she teased.

Richard promptly closed his mouth and tried to focus on his task at hand, on the Mord-Sith under him that he was driving into, but then Kahlan reached behind her, her hand open and asking for his. He gave it to her and she squeezed it reassuringly before placing his palm on the small of her back, then leaning forward again, head pressed to the sheets. She just wanted his touch. Soon Cara’s hand reached around Kahlan’s thigh to take her with two deep fingers, and this time it was definitely Kahlan that loosed a moan entirely unbecoming of any Mother Confessor, her hands reaching out to grab fistfuls of bedding to her sides.

Cara wrapped her legs around Richard’s waist, pulling him closer in a rare show of want, of need, and he remembered that the Mord-Sith had never been able to truly finish Kahlan before. Cara would deny it, but this moment was important to her. So he did what he could for Cara’s pleasure, taking her with firm thrusts while stroking her clit, and Cara groaned as her tongue drove Kahlan ever closer to the edge. Her fingers plunged fast and hard as she took a few panting breaths, and then, with a final wet suckling sound, Kahlan came apart around her hand and against her mouth, her hips lurching as she cried out softly.

****

It was to be expected, Cara supposed. As soon as Kahlan recovered, Richard had more or less appropriated her, and now the two were so obviously making love while Cara reclined beside them, her fingers working between her own legs as she watched. Richard and Kahlan were embraced like lovers, kissing like lovers, and their movements together were as gentle as Cara had forbidden either of them on their own.

Cara nearly smiled—everything was as it should be.

But Richard had apparently already been close when they were interrupted by Kahlan’s release, and he soon turned into the animal all men do when they’re near climax. He wrapped his arms around Kahlan’s back and rolled her over, kissing at her neck while he drove into her, and Kahlan smiled and murmured something to him as she held his head close. He grunted suddenly, his body visibly tensing, and the pair tightened their embrace while he released. Then he collapsed loosely over her and Cara winced, all too familiar with the dead weight of an expended Seeker on one’s body.

She continued tending to her own pleasure while Richard caught his breath, and then Kahlan glanced to her and whispered something into Richard’s ear. Cara narrowed her eyes. They continued their secretive conversation until Richard gave a tired groan and shifted himself off of her. Kahlan wasted no time, crawling over Richard and messed sheets to Cara with catlike grace. Cara wanted to watch her forever. Their sex had made Kahlan’s dark hair wild and her cheeks rosy, and as Kahlan got closer Cara couldn’t help biting her tongue and driving her fingers deeper. But Kahlan reached out to seize her hand and smiled. “It’s your turn,” she said softly, and reached around to lightly smack Richard’s shoulder. “Isn’t it her turn?”

“It is,” Richard said quickly, rousing himself to Kahlan’s side. “Lay back, Cara.”

Cara obeyed, regarding them suspiciously as Kahlan placed a soft pillow under her head. “I am Mord-Sith,” she reminded them, because it seemed they might have forgotten.

“You are,” Kahlan agreed, and then shifted to her side. Richard followed suit on her other side, and after sharing a glance they lowered their mouths to Cara’s breasts.

“Oh,” Cara breathed out, her hands finding their way to the backs of their heads as both of her nipples were pulled and tugged between teeth and lips. Richard and Kahlan both knew her body well given their countless trysts; they knew what she liked and how she liked it, but Cara had never hoped to be subjected to their combined knowledge. Richard’s hand traveled to her thigh, but it was Kahlan’s that found her sex, well prepared and wet, and took her with skilled fingers as her thumb rolled firmly against her clit. Cara could only pant and stare at them as they bit down on her hardened nipples seemingly in tandem, pain and pleasure mingling in the most delicious way. Her body soared from their combined attentions and she pulled them both closer, crushing them to her breasts as Kahlan skillfully drove her toward release. Kahlan laughed against her skin suddenly, and Cara reluctantly let her free.

“I don't think she'll have problems,” Kahlan said softly, smirking at Richard. He just grunted in agreement, his mouth still on her breast. Kahlan arched up only long enough to give Cara an open-mouthed kiss, and Cara quickly understood what Kahlan’s tongue was promising as it pushed into her mouth. The brunette was gone just as quickly, shifting down Cara’s body and dipping her head between her legs.

Kahlan did absolutely incredible things to Cara’s clit with that same tongue, and Richard had her breasts well handled by himself. It was strange for Cara to let herself indulge like this, to be so giving with her own pleasure, but she was in very good hands. Richard soon took to kissing her mouth—and that one spot on her neck—while he worked her nipples to the point of painful sensitivity and beyond. Kahlan was pumping into her sex with three fingers now, suckling her clit between her lips and assaulting it relentlessly with her tongue, and when Cara’s release finally swelled and broke, her body exploding with pleasure for one short moment of bliss, she called out both their names.

****

“You love us, you know,” Kahlan said quietly, rolling onto her side under the sheets to rest her hand on the center of the blonde’s bare chest. “Every bit as much as we love you. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Cara pulled on Richard’s folded arm, tugging it under her head as a harder makeshift pillow. “Whatever gave you that idea?”

“Love is sacrifice,” Richard said drowsily, as if on cue. Cara quickly realized she was being attacked. They’d planned these words. She frowned, but was far too comfortable to move.

“And what am I sacrificing?” she challenged.

“Right now?” Kahlan murmured in her ear. “Your reputation as a fierce and heartless killer. You’re cuddling with us.”

“Clearly I've been too easy on you both,” Cara scoffed, shifting pointedly between the two of them. “I am simply tired. I don’t love either of you. If you have heartfelt marriage proposals for me, let’s hear them so I can say no and go to sleep.”

Richard shifted his arm to squeeze her shoulders affectionately, Kahlan just smiled at her and kissed her cheek, and when the lamp was doused, plunging the room into blackness, Cara let herself smile in the dark.


End file.
